Open business day-to-day

Chapter 262 Hot Topics
Sohu's popularity in China reached its peak in 2008.

This year, Sohu also ushered in its heyday.Of course, it was also in this year that Sohu began to turn from prosperity to decline.

At that time, the Olympic Games was held in BJ, and Sohu defeated all domestic Internet companies and won the qualification of BJ's Olympic sponsor in one fell swoop.

At that time, there were advertisements of "Watch the Olympics, go to Sohu" all over the country's bus and subway stations.

Also in this year, Sohu's performance and stock price surpassed Sina for the first time, and Sohu even surpassed Sina to become the most influential portal website in China.

But then, Lao Zhang became a little bit drifting. He often appeared on the cover of fashion magazines and entertained with young and beautiful models; Into the entertainment circle.

In the beautiful Sanya Bay, there is a private yacht he bought with a lot of money; in his mansion, private banquets are frequently held one after another, dancing his original Charles dance steps, becoming the focus of everyone's eyes.

At that time, some media described Zhang Chaoyang in this way: "He is like Gatsby described by Fitzgerald. He goes to the mountains and goes to the sea, owns a mansion and a yacht, sits in a crowd, and sings every night."

Zhang Chaoyang, who became the Chinese Gatsby, also failed to escape the corresponding curse.He didn't sink into the cold pool like Gatsby, but lost in the dazzling light.

After 2008, Zhang Chaoyang, who felt that success and fame would lead to a fulfilling life, began to work as a hands-off shopkeeper, and all the company's affairs were handed over to several senior executives.

He no longer does anything work-related, and calls and texts from executives are often ignored.

At the same time, he is no longer obsessed with sensuality, but begins to pursue higher spiritual enjoyment. He is busy reading books, climbing mountains, listening to music, and thinking about life after success every day.

But Sohu did not have a leader at the helm, and since then it has slowly gone downhill.

……

In the past two years, although Sohu's development is still good, and it has made continuous efforts in the field of games and videos, but it does have a lack of stamina, as if it has lost its clue and lost its main business.

Now Sina has Weibo, Baidu has search, NetEase has games, not to mention Tencent, only Sohu, I don’t know what his main business is!
An extremely brilliant person and company are gradually going downhill, and there are naturally many topics and hot spots on him.

Up to now, the failure of Weibo business has not only ranked the bottom one, but even a newly established start-up company can't compare, which proves the decline of Sohu.

Naturally, it is a very good hot topic, how could those self-media and gossip news miss it.

Lin Rui looked through the Internet, and indeed saw a lot of reports about this matter. Although they were not well-known media, there were a lot of entertainment tabloids and self-media reporting on this matter.

Although the center of the topic is on Sohu, there are not too many articles reporting on Weiyang's Weibo, but there are still quite a few, and it has attracted the attention of many people.

For a while, Weiyang Weibo gained a lot of attention, and for the first time entered the mainstream public's field of vision.

It is said that Lin Rui is still very envious of Zhang Chaoyang, this is the real player who can play and wins in life.

Although Sohu seems to be a little behind now, the thin camel is bigger than the horse, and it is still a big company with a market value of more than 30 billion US dollars. On the surface, the company is still brilliant.

Moreover, Zhang Chaoyang was indeed very famous back then. As a Ph.D. from MIT, since Sohu went online in 1, he became a well-deserved leader among Chinese Internet companies at that time. Zhang Chaoyang was once called "China's Internet No. [-]".

With such an aura, he was invited to give many lecture tours all over the country. Every time his speech was full of seats, he caused a sensation in many places and was influenced by many people. He was unmatched in the Internet circle at that time. .

Two of them were in the speeches of BJ and Shenzhen.

There were two people who listened very seriously. One was Lao Ma, who was cooperating with the Ministry of Science and Technology to develop China Yellow Pages; Been with this company for six years.

A few months after Ma listened to the speech, he left the Ministry of Science and Technology and returned to Hangzhou. He recruited the students he had brought before and established Alibaba.

Xiao Ma also resigned a few months later and recruited a few classmates to set up Tencent.

Since then, China's vigorous Internet wave has officially started, and the pattern of China's Internet has been formally determined in the past two years.

Although this seems a bit of a coincidence, it is undeniable that these two people did go to listen to Zhang Chaoyang's speech.

Moreover, Lao Ma planned to study at Sohu for a period of time, and asked Yongqiang Gu, the founder of Youku, who was working at Sohu at the time, to help him, but of course he was rejected in the end.

Brother Xiao Ma couldn't afford to support QQ back then, and wanted to sell it, so he went to find Zhang Chaoyang, who had the greatest influence in the domestic Internet circle at that time, but of course he didn't sell it. Finally got financing.

Although these examples are somewhat negative, it can also be seen that Zhang Chaoyang had a huge influence in the domestic Internet circle back then.

Lin Rui looked through the news about this matter on the Internet. What happened to Sohu?Sohu Waterloo!
Sohu Weibo is number one from the bottom, shouldn't it be time for Zhang Chaoyang to reflect?

There are also quite a few posts about Weiyang Weibo, who is Weiyang Technology?How did Weiyang Weibo develop?
"Analyze Weiyang Weibo to see the trend and future of Internet development in the central and western provinces!"

"Through Weiyang Weibo, show the scientific and technological development achievements of the strategy for the rise of central China." Why is this article so formal and official? Look at the author of this article, which was written by a reporter from a local state-owned newspaper. No wonder!

Of course, there are also a lot of headline parties, who talk about Sohu over and over again, and then pull Weiyang Weibo to prove the decline of Sohu.

Although some places on Weiyang Weibo have caught the popularity of Sohu, this is for sure.If only Weiyang Weibo data is released, without Sohu for comparison, it will be difficult to achieve the current popularity.

However, Weiyang Weibo itself is not small in terms of topicality and popularity. The third-tier cities in the inland provinces are places where traditional industries are the mainstay.In everyone's impression, it has nothing to do with Internet companies, and even if it is possible, it will be difficult to develop.

But now there is such a company that has developed and has more than 1000 million users. Its performance is very good, even surpassing the old Internet companies.

This is a topic and a hot spot in itself.

Lin Rui spent half an hour browsing through the news on the Internet. At this time, Liu Wei also called, talking about the same thing.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Rui and Sun Yutong went downstairs to have breakfast together, and then started running, standing, and boxing to complete their daily exercise tasks.

It's not that he doesn't care about this matter, he is really happy that Weiyang Weibo uses this matter to gain a sense of presence and fame.

But this is just an occasional event and cannot be regarded as the norm. You can get benefits, but you can't always get benefits. The right way is to develop the company well.

Tan Yuanming, Shang Yansong, Li Xueming, who were on vacation during the period, all called to talk about this matter, but Lin Rui still waited until nine o'clock before arriving at the company with Sun Yutong.

When I arrived at the company, I took a look, okay!The company's executives are all here, aren't you on vacation?Started to work tomorrow.

Lin Rui complained secretly in his heart.

However, he is also very happy that the executives care so much about the company.

What are you waiting for?Let's have a meeting!Anyway, everyone is most concerned about this matter at the moment, and happiness and pride are indispensable. After all, the results can surpass those of established Internet companies, and you can't be happy.

Lin Rui wanted to see if the company could take advantage of this public opinion turmoil.

After Sun Yutong arranged the meeting room, everyone was seated one by one, and the meeting officially started.

Lin Rui spoke first, with a faint smile on his face, and then roughly said the matter again.

"I know everyone is very happy now. After all, Sohu is an established Internet company, and its strength, connections, and resources are much stronger than ours."

"Our Weibo platform started late, and users can surpass them. Not only are you surprised, I am also surprised, and very happy."

Then the topic changed, and we began to pour cold water: "But at the same time, we must also see that Weibo is just a side business of Sohu, and it is still an inconspicuous side business that has not invested much resources. We can't be complacent about it, think it's great, think these things There is nothing for established Internet companies!"

"In fact, Sohu's current strength is very strong, and the Weibo business may not be valued within their company, so this kind of data appears."

"Sohu.com, currently owned by Sohu, is one of the largest portal websites in China. It has firmly occupied this position, and no one has shaken it for more than ten years."

"There is also Sohu's three-stage rocket, input method, browser, and search. Sogou input method is currently the input method with the largest market share and the largest number of users in China; Sogou search is currently the most promising development potential in China other than Baidu. search engine."

"In addition, there is Sohu Changyou, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sohu. It has just been listed for less than a year, and it has Tianlong Babu as a gold-absorbing weapon."

"In addition, Sohu Video is also developing well, as well as Sohu Focus, Sohu Auto Network, etc..."

"Sohu Weibo is just a product developed by Sohu following the trend of other established Internet companies when they see the end of the market. They don't pay much attention to it, and the resources they give are limited. Do it."

"For us, Weiyang Weibo is our most important product now, and it is also the lifeblood of the company's development. All resources have been invested in it. It's not that we are better than Sohu Weibo, but that they don't have it at all. Pay attention, just follow the trend."

Lin Rui finished these words in one breath, and saw that everyone around him had calmed down, looking thoughtful.

He picked up the tea and took a sip, then said softly: "Of course, our Weiyang Weibo itself is good enough, that's for sure, very proud and proud."

"But apart from being proud, we can't underestimate our opponents. They are all veteran Internet companies with more than ten years of history, with profound foundations and strong strength, which we cannot compare with."

"The focus of our attention now should be how to gain enough attention and benefits for Weiyang Weibo in this wave of public opinion."

After finishing the conversation, I saw Liu Wei next to him who seemed to have something to say. Liu Wei was on duty at the company during the National Day holiday, and he should know a little better than everyone else, so he motioned for Liu Wei to talk.

Liu Wei coughed twice, turned around and looked at the crowd, and said with a slight excitement in his voice: "Let me first inform you about the situation. Our current Weiyang Weibo users have been growing at a steady rate for a while, and we can increase by seven per day." About [-] registered users."

"Since seven or eight o'clock last night, the number of visits to Weiyang's Weibo has been increasing, many of them are from unfamiliar IPs, and the number of user registrations has also increased significantly."

"At [-] or [-] o'clock yesterday, it was also the time when the list about the ranking of Weibo platforms was reposted on the Internet in large numbers, and it was quickly spread and fermented."

"We usually increase the number of users from 16:[-] pm to [-]:[-] am during this time period, generally only about [-] to [-]. This time, according to the statistics just made by the background, from [-]:[-] pm last night to now, the total increase It has [-] registered users, which is several times higher than usual, and I think it is all due to this public opinion.”

"Mr. Lin also said just now how we can get enough benefits for Weiyang Weibo in this wave of public opinion. I think more registered users and greater popularity are the biggest benefits for Weiyang Weibo."

As soon as Liu Wei's voice fell, everyone immediately started a heated discussion. It is impossible for the company to refuse the tangible benefits of increasing users.

There are various proposals, and some propose to hold a large-scale press conference to increase the heat.

There is a proposal to find the water army to hype the topic of Weiyang Weibo, and keep it hot.

There is also a proposal to contact Sohu directly, and constantly use Sohu to create topics for Weiyang Weibo...

Everyone discussed for a long time, put forward several feasible plans, and finally waited for Lin Rui to make a decision.

Holding a press conference can be considered, but it is not yet the right time.

It needs to be fermented slowly, and when more and more people become curious about Weiyang Technology and pay more attention to it, the benefits can be maximized and greater hotspots can be created.

It can also be considered to ask the water army to hype the topic on Weiyang Weibo. After all, Weiyang Weibo itself has its own topics, and with a rhythm, the hype may be even higher.

As for Pengci Sohu, who deliberately created a topic, Lin Rui resisted a little. He didn't like this kind of hype.

After pondering for a while, Lin Rui said, "I think it's okay to hold a press conference. After all, the outside world is somewhat curious about our company, but it needs a good opportunity."

"As for the scale, the bigger the better, we need to make appropriate adjustments according to the degree of attention the outside world pays to us. We can't be petty, and we can't make a big deal out of a molehill to make people laugh."

"Pengci Sohu, I think it's fine! One is that it's not very honorable to do so, and everyone is not a fool. It can be seen that it is not good for our company's reputation."

"Secondly, Sohu's current size is not something we can touch at will. Their strength, background, and connections are much stronger than ours. They pissed off Boss Zhang, used his emotions, and confronted us tit-for-tat. Direct vicious competition. Not so good."

"Stay steady!"

"As for finding the navy to hype, I agree with that."

"Our Weiyang Technology, in an inland city where traditional industries occupy the mainstream, and the central and western regions known as the Internet desert, has risen rapidly in a short period of time, which itself is a hot spot."

"Not only the media likes to hype such topics, but the local government also likes it. For example, in our Los Angeles city government, if such an Internet company suddenly appeared in its jurisdiction and showed its face in the whole country, would it be happy, and then the city's media will start to follow up and report."

"I think it's very possible, as long as we lead the topic to this direction, and then highlight the value of Weiyang Technology, it is a very good hot topic, which can arouse people's desire to explore, and our popularity and users will naturally come. .”

In the end, the meeting lasted for more than two hours. After Lin Rui made a decision, everyone discussed the specific implementation strategy and how to maximize the effect.

The implementation of this matter was handed over to Liu Wei, the director of the marketing department. After all, he was the planning director of a large media advertising company, and he was very good at this kind of thing, and he also had the relationship and contacts for hype.

With the ability and skill he usually shows, I believe he will not disappoint.

(End of this chapter)